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Hi guys! Total newbie here with a question. I've made my helmet gauntlets, and jet pack out of cardboard and papermache. Huge thanks to every one here who posted templates and ideas and suggestions!

Now I want to strentghen them a bit to save em from dents and paint cracks from flexing and stuff. A friend suggested a coat of fiberglass resin painted over them with out the matting or cloth. Would this work, or am I inviteing disaster with a gooey mess, or a very rough surface with weeks of additional sanding?

Has any one done this before, or is there something else out thier other than fibreglass that will do the same thing?

Im sure some of our more seasoned builders here will chime in with better advice than me but...

Ive been using Skips templates and Fiberglass Resining without the glass matt on the outside... two coats adds a nice stiffness to the helmets in my limited experience OH - and as far as mine goes - it just adds strength and a shiny surface - no sanding unless you follow it with bondo or the like

Thanks mckenic! I appreciate your advice. I don't want to rush into this build without fully reserching it. The last build I did turned out to be a collosal mess, I was my first time using fiber glass. I'd used fiberglass on the inside and outside, overlapping the matt. The end result was heavy yellow fett looking paperweight! Lessons learned I guess.

Love the Boush Helmet your working on. I'll look great once it is finished. The WIP photos are a great guide, It looks like the FG resin alone should be tough enough to do the trick.

Fiberglass will work on carboard. The carborad makes a really nice base and you can build up on it to get a really strong piece. this is sort of how many people build their Halo armor on the 405 site. The make the armor out of carstock first and then glass it.

A few warnings though

1.) RESIN IS TOXIC!!!! be sure you are in a well ventilated area and use the appropriate reperatory protection

2.) Resin does not stick to packaging or duct tape!!! if any of the surfaces have this, remove it and replace with masking tape

3.) have a palm sander. Sanding fiberglass to a smooth finish is a real pain.

Like mckenic I am using one of Skips templates as well. 'Cept I'm working on the RG helmet seen here . I started with a couple coats of FG resin on the outside and that worked out great on the face and top portions. The back, however, still had a little bit of flex to it. I assume it is due to where it is a large flatter area. So, I just added some FG cloth the to gain more strength.

Also... Wear proper attire when using the resin. It does not play nicely with body hair of any kind.

so i was wondering would this fiber glass resin method work with a carved hardwood like balsa or butternut? does the resin seep into the cardboard making it harder and if so how much weight does it add? are there any other ways to strengthen up cardboard armor? and lastly whats the best way to attach the armor and hard parts to cloth?

sorry if i posted in the wrong area but this just seemed right. thx for any help your wiling to offer

I made this head out of paper mache about 20 years ago and then covered it with fiberglass about 15 years ago to make it stronger and more like the original. It worked out fine just make sure you are in a well ventilated area as mentioned before.

There are various ways of doing this but for me i have basically used clothing snaps or poppers, the snaps come in two parts glue one side to the armour and the other needs to be punched and attached to the cloth part of your costume. they work very well and means you can easily remove the armour.

The guys at 405th fiberglass the inside of their cardstock paper models, to do this they recommend putting 1-2 coats of resin on the inside and the outside of the model then adding resin and fiberglass to the inside of the model for structure (let each layer dry and harden between coats). If you plan to fiberglass the outside you risk losing detail on the model.

My personal experience with this is that if you have a cardstock model with cardboard backing or just a cardboard model you can have a few problems:

The main problem is if you glass the inside (cardboard side) and only resin the outside, the card board becomes a 'soft' center between 2 harder areas. Any stress to the outside (resin only) can cause the cardboard to give and will crack the resin on the outside.

If you only want to add a fiberglass layer to the outside you will improve the durability of the model and you shouldnt have the problem listed above. You could lose detail, but that can be added back with a dremel tool or other device in most cases.
-Aaron

Ok so I have a question.
I am pretty sure most of you use a different kind of cardboard. I am using corrugated cardboard and I am wondering id the Fb resin and Fb sheets will work well with this kind.
A friend of mine said the FB would eat through the cardboard, will it really do that?
Oh and if you guys knwo the answer that will help me out SO much.

Fiberglass will work on carboard. The carborad makes a really nice base and you can build up on it to get a really strong piece. this is sort of how many people build their Halo armor on the 405 site. The make the armor out of carstock first and then glass it.

A few warnings though

1.) RESIN IS TOXIC!!!! be sure you are in a well ventilated area and use the appropriate reperatory protection

2.) Resin does not stick to packaging or duct tape!!! if any of the surfaces have this, remove it and replace with masking tape

3.) have a palm sander. Sanding fiberglass to a smooth finish is a real pain.